Devil or Angel?
by mascaret
Summary: Devil or Angel? I can't make up my mind which one you are. Devil or angel dear, whichever you are, I need you.
1. Chapter 1

A/N Fair warning – the story is only 5 or 6 chapters long. It's not unfinished. It goes exactly where I intended it to go, but that doesn't mean it has a traditional resolution.

Title and summary courtesy of Bobby Vee.

 _Devil or Angel?_

Using one hand to hold Agnes on her hip, Liz used the other hand to try to get her to hold and shake the maraca to the music. Agnes was only interested in eating the musical instrument.

The petite blonde next to Liz was having the same problem. Catching Liz's eye, she commented. "I really hope these things get sanitized between classes."

Looking at the plastic bin they came from, Liz admitted. "I'm pretty sure that's just wishful thinking."

"Marley." The blond introduced herself as she redoubled her efforts to get her daughter to shake the toy instead of teething on it. "And this is Evie."

"Liz and Agnes."

"Old school. I like it."

Marley started to say something more, but the woman leading the class shamed her into being silent.

 _"Remember, this time is about connecting with your baby and the music."_

Liz shared a guilty smile with the other mom.

At the end of the class, as they were putting on their coats, Marley approached her again. "Not to sound desperate or anything, but while I love my baby, I am so not used to this whole limited adult interaction. Let's just be frank – music classes for babies this age, they're obviously just a front to meet other moms in the same situation. Would you be interested in getting lunch or a coffee sometime?"

Smiling, Liz admitted. "I'd like that. When?"

"How about now?" Marley suggested. "Before my mind turns to absolutely mush from all the goo gooing and gaa gaaing."

Liz hesitated. She was suppose to be heading straight home to hand Agnes off to Tom so she could meet up with Reddington and then report to Cooper. But … Cooper was going to be on the Hill all morning. Besides … one of the perks of being the only one fugitive Raymond Reddington would speak to was that Cooper could hardly fire her for being late even if he did get back before her.

"What the hell. Let's do it!" Liz agreed excited at the prospect of a normal mommy friend.

Buckling Agnes in her stroller, Liz took out her phone.

 _Going to be late._

 _I have a mommy play date!_

Tom replied back.

 _Don't do anything I wouldn't do!_

"Where do you want to go? The place across the street has great waffles."

"Oh … Do they? I've never eaten there." Marley had an oddly somewhat horrified look on her face. She hesitated before with a torn look on her face confessing. "Full disclosure. Pre-Evie I worked for the Health Department. The reason I've never eaten there is because I have a maximum amount of insect legs and rodent droppings that I'm willing to have in my food."

Marley looked embarrassed. "After the maracas, you're going to think I'm one of those germaphobes, but do you mind if we go somewhere else?"

"No, not at all." Liz readily agreed. "Keeping in mind that the maximum number of rat droppings I am willing to have in my food is _zero_ , where would you recommend?"

"There is a great little bakery one Metro stop over. They do coffee, pastries, sandwiches ..."

"Rat droppings?" Liz asked.

"No rat droppings." Marley assured her.

Marley chattered away a mile a minute about the trials and tribulations of motherhood as they walked towards the Metro entrance.

"Everybody pushes the whole breastfeeding thing. They talk about how important it is and how wonderful it is – How come no one talks about how painful it is? Do you breastfeed?"

"No." Liz admitted sadly. "Agnes and I … we were … separated for a while and I couldn't nurse her. I tried to keep up a supply, but it just didn't work out."

"Was she a preemie? How awful!"

Liz tapped on the button to call the elevator to get the two strollers down to the train platform.

"I couldn't imagine going home from the hospital and having to leave my Evie there!"

Enjoying the idea of a nice, normal friend, and wanting to hold onto it just a little longer, Liz didn't correct her incorrect assumption.

It was a little difficult to maneuver the two strollers into the elevator. Liz found herself turning her back to Marley to accomplish it.

"I'm sorry. Here I am going on about how awful -"

Just as the doors started to close, two shots rang out.

Marley went silent and hit the ground.

Drawing her gun, Liz tipped over both strollers to make the babies lesser targets. Marley's foot was in the way of the doors, keeping them from shutting. Gun raised, Liz scanned the area outside the elevator. Unable to spot the shooter and not fond of being a fish in a barrel, Liz blindly groped for the other woman's trouser leg to pull her foot inside.

It wasn't until the doors fully closed that Liz pulled out her phone to get help and turned Marley over.

Seeing the small woman's vacant expression, with one direct hit to the forehead and another to the chest, Liz knew it was hopeless.

 _tbc_

A/N At any given time I generally have at least 12-20 stories that I am working on from a couple of different fandoms. Posting a half dozen or so chapters of different ones over the next few days. In the interests of concentrating on the stories people are actually interested in reading, I'm only going to

update the ones people express interest in so if you see something you like say something.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Fair warning – the story is only 5 or 6 chapters long. It's not unfinished. It goes exactly where I intended it to go, but that doesn't mean it has a traditional resolution.

 _Devil or Angel?_

 _Chapter 2_

"That poor woman!" Liz cried on Tom's shoulder while Reddington cradled Agnes, pressing kisses to her forehead and her little fingers. Dembe held Evie.

"This is all my fault. If she hadn't been with me …" Looking at little Evie grasping Dembe's fingers, she lamented. "That poor baby lost her mother all because of me!"

Ressler came up to join them. "Don't beat yourself up over this, Liz."

"How can you say that? Obviously, I was the target. If she hadn't been with me in that elevator, that woman would still be alive!"

"That's all true, but not how you meant it." Ressler held up an evidence bag holding a 9mm.

"You found the shooter's gun! Did you get the shooter?"

"Liz … you were the target, but you were this Marley woman's target. This isn't the gun used to kill her. This is the gun we found _under_ her. She must have fallen on it when she got shot."

"What?"

"We found this in her pocket."

Donald held up another evidence bag. This one had a flyer for the mommy and me music class with the day and time option Liz and Agnes attended circled.

Liz didn't know what to say.

"As for Evie, I just sent her picture out two minutes ago. I already have a possible match. Dembe, you want to take a look under the hood to confirm it?"

Dembe put Evie down on the bench to check under her diaper.

Standing over them, still holding Agnes, Reddington tilted his head and asked. "What is the masculine form of Evie?"

"Marcus." Ressler answered. "He was stolen three hours ago from Watkins Park in Maryland."

"His mother?" Liz asked.

"Pissed as hell at her husband for turning his back on the baby while pushing their three year old daughter on the swings."

Liz gave a sigh of relief.

Samar joined them and looked Reddington's way. "No shell casings from outside the elevator. So whoever you had following Liz either picked up their empties or used a revolver."

Tom rubbed his hand in calming circles on Liz's back. "I know we told you to back off and take your goons, but for once I'm glad you didn't listen."

"Who was it? Baz or -" Liz caught the look on Reddington's face. "- What?"

"I did what you asked. You asked for space. _Against_ my better judgment, I gave it to you. Who ever did _this_ … it wasn't one of mine."

 _tbc_


	3. Chapter 3

A/N Fair warning – the story is only 5 or 6 chapters long. It's not unfinished. It goes exactly where I intended it to go, but that doesn't mean it has a traditional resolution.

 _Devil or Angel?_

 _Chapter 3_

Aram shook his head. "Your guardian angel wore a hat. It was a big hat and he or she managed to avoid ever looking directly at the camera. Any camera." Aram added as he flipped through footage from multiple different angles of multiple different surveillance cameras as her and Agnes made their way with their would be killer from the music class to the Metro. The figure followed behind as they walked.

"So not only did I not realize that I was walking into a trap, I completely missed the tail following me?"

Rather than say anything, looking awkward, Aram hit a few more buttons on his keyboard.

The date on the video changed and Marley of course disappeared, but the figure trailing Liz was still present – trailing a little farther behind those days, but still clearly following Liz and Agnes.

"How long has this been going on?" Liz asked as her outfit and the date on the video kept changing.

Aram looked at her and gave a little cringe while admitting. "This camera is on a two week loop."

Liz didn't know what to say.

Turning back to his computer, Aram pulled up some different footage. "I was able to get clear footage from the camera in the elevator."

"Of the person following me?"

"Ah … no." Aram admitted.

Liz didn't feel any better watching herself with her back turned, totally unaware as 'Marley' pulled out a gun from her shoulder bag just before the two bullets ripped into her.

"Who was she?" Liz wondered aloud.

Joining them Samar didn't exactly inspire a warm and fuzzy feeling. "Who knows? At this point who isn't trying to kill you?"

Ressler hung up his phone. "The M.E. dug the bullets out. Cooper's not around to put a rush order on the ballistics report. He's still in meetings on the Hill so I'm going to head over to ballistics to sit on the guys there until they get me the report."

Liz grabbed her jacket. "I'll go with you."

Ressler held up a hand to stop her. "Liz, you can't go. You were the target. You can't be a part of this investigation. It's a conflict of interest."

Liz opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get a word out, he put his hand down. "Just kidding. When have we ever done anything by the books? Let's go."

OOO

"Based on the lands and grooves -" The young man paused to throw in a non sequitor. "- What a great name for a band, don't you think? Lands and grooves."

"The gun." Donald prompted him. "What can you tell us about the gun used?"

"I would say it's a Smith and Wesson 586."

Mistaking Liz's expression for confusion, he elaborated.

"The Smith and Wesson 586 is a man's man's gun. It's nothing fancy. It doesn't come with any bells or whistles – no sites or scope. You've got to be a good shot. You can't fit it with a clip for faster reload. It's big and heavy, but it's not clunky. It's solid and it packs quite the kick. It's got real stopping power. It's a one and done. You hit something with this thing, it's going down and it's not coming back up. It gets the job done."

"I'm familiar with the gun." Liz told him. "A … friend used to carry one." Remembering how Mr. Kaplan had dropped the two men pretending to be F.B.I. agents, Liz added. "I've seen what it can do."

The kid nodded. "I can't tell you who fired the shots, but I can tell you who sold it."

 _"How?"_ Liz asked.

"Well it's your lucky day."

"Tell me about it." Ressler mumbled.

"The gun that fired those shots was sent to Maryland to be sold. Maryland _used_ to require gun manufacturers to fire every handgun to be sold in the state and send the spent bullet casing to the State Police Headquarters to be cataloged for their database. _"_

Ressler at least knew what he was referring to. "You're talking about Maryland's ballistic fingerprinting law, but that was repealed back in 2015."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they threw out all the old records. The gun that fired this bullet was manufactured and sent to Maryland for sale _before_ the program was discontinued." He added. "And if I were you I would go buy a lotto ticket because it's _really_ your lucky day - the bullet sent in from your gun was not just sent in to be cataloged …" The ballistics expert said it like it was the wildest and craziest thing he had ever heard. " …it _actually_ was cataloged."

"Where was it sent to?" Liz asked.

 _tbc_


	4. Chapter 4

A/N Fair warning – the story is only 5 chapters long. It's not unfinished. It goes exactly where I intended it to go, but that doesn't mean it has a traditional resolution.

 _Devil or Angel?_

 _Chapter 4_

Liz walked around the store looking in the various display cases while the owner wrapped up with a customer.

"How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a Smith and Wesson 586." Liz told him.

The store owner looked surprised and if she wasn't mistaken a little impressed. "Can't help you there. All out of stock. Not much call for those usually. Not a lot of people buy the 586 anymore. These days, people are all about clips for rapid reload. Let me show you something a little more -"

Joining them, Ressler pulled out his badge and a paper with the gun's serial number on it. "We're looking for a particular 586. One that you sold."

"Must have been some kind of clerical error. I don't -"

Taking the hard line, Ressler interrupted him. "- Cut the crap. We know you sold the gun. It was used this morning to take shots at an FBI agent. A woman is dead. You tell me what I want to know _right now_ and maybe I won't bring you in for selling guns off the books."

"Oh man!" The shop owner ran his hand through his hair. "Look man, don't jam me up."

"I want a name."

"She didn't give me a name."

"She? It was a woman?" Liz asked.

"Yeah. She said she saw a mouse in her kitchen. Needed something to take care of it."

Donald balked. "That's got to be one hell of a mouse. Was it Chuck E. Cheese or Mickey Mouse?"

"I think it was more of a rat. Her face, she looked like she was having man troubles, if you know what I mean."

A little dazed and technically not even suppose to be there, Liz let Donald ask all the questions.

"She was roughed up?"

"It was a little more serious looking than that. Look ..." the gun shop owner held up a hand. "... I don't want any trouble."

"If you didn't want trouble you should have opened up a flower stand – not a gun shop."

"I showed it to her, but I didn't sell it to her. I swear. She stole it."

"One of your guns gets stolen and you didn't call the police? I don't think so." Ressler wasn't buying it.

"The phone rang. I turned my back on her for maybe twenty seconds. I turned back around and she was gone. So was the gun. She left cash on the counter."

Donald pronounced judgment on his story. "Unbelievable."

"Look man, you didn't see her face. Like I said – I felt sorry for her."

"I want your security footage."

"That was months ago! It gets recorded over after 48 hours."

Donald frowned and snapped at him. "I'm going to need a description. _Now._ "

 _OOO_

Back in the car, Ressler tried to help Liz work it through.

"From what little I've gathered about her, it seems Reddington has known Kaplan forever. Still, he has a business to run. He had to make an example out of her. Maybe he didn't kill her. Maybe, he just told everyone he killed her, but really he just told her to disappear and never come back?"

Liz shook her head. "Dembe told me he killed her."

"Maybe he told Dembe the same story."

Liz wasn't convinced. "I confronted Reddington about it. He didn't deny it."

"Because Reddington's always been so forthcoming with you in the past about information."

Liz couldn't dispute that. If Donald was right and Liz asked maybe Reddington would tell her the truth.

But if Donald was wrong and Reddington didn't know Mr. Kaplan was alive …

Liz frowned. "The store owner's description – he said she had a bad scar on the side of her face.

Donald repeated what they had been told in the shop. "Like someone fired a gun right next to her face to scare her."

"Tom didn't mention her having that last time he saw her."

Liz looked at the time. "We should be getting back to the Post Office."

"Just one sec." Donald pulled out his phone.

"Who are you calling?"

"ATF."

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire Arms.

"You said -"

Donald corrected her before she could finish. "- I said _I_ wouldn't bring him in."

Liz pointed out. "Reddington is rubbing off on you."

"Bite your tongue." Ressler retorted.

 _tbc_


	5. Chapter 5

A/N Fair warning – the story is only 5 chapters long. It's not unfinished. It goes exactly where I intended it to go, but that doesn't mean it has a traditional resolution.

 _Devil or Angel?_

 _Chapter 5_

Liz was back at the Post Office still debating her options when Reddington came in and went straight to Aram.

"Aram, I want to see all the surveillance footage, the autopsy report, ballistics – We need to find out who is after Lizzie and who exactly this _supposed_ guardian angel is. This wasn't simply a case of the right place at the right time. For all we know this person only saved Lizzie to kill her himself later."

Reddington was on a tear. "Were there any footprints? Have they triangulated yet to figure out the shooter's height?"

"Cooper was responsible!" Elizabeth blurted out.

"Cooper was responsible for what?" Cooper himself asked having come off the elevator.

"I was just telling Reddington that the mystery was solved on who saved my life this morning. That you were the one that had someone shadowing me because I told you I made Reddington back off with his people."

"You had a tail on Lizzie?"

As soon as Reddington turned in Cooper's direction, Liz gave Cooper a pleading look.

Cooper looked Reddington right in the eye. "I know how to take care of my people when they need it too, Reddington. Did you think that you were the only one?"

"An agent left the scene after opening fire? That's a far cry from standard protocol." Reddington pointed out.

"Because he was given explicit instruction that this was a covert assignment and he was not to be observed by his target. He's green. Fresh out of the academy. He took those orders a little too far to heart. He's been blowing up my phone all morning trying to get a hold of me to find out what to do, but I was on the hill and had my phone off."

That seemed to placate Reddington. He calmed a bit. "He's quite the marksman. Fired twice and landed two kill shots. I'd like to meet him. Thank him personally."

Cooper not only picked up the ball, he carried it. "Not a chance. You've already got your hooks into enough of my people. I'm not letting you anywhere near this kid."

Reddington didn't look pleased, but he didn't argue.

"Now a little less focus on Keen's guardian angel and a little more focus on her threat of the week!"

As the others got back to work, Cooper tipped his head towards the stairs. "Keen, my office."

Once she was inside, Cooper closed the door. "My first question is – Are you alright?"

Liz nodded.

"Good. My second question is - Do I even want to know what I just lied to Reddington about? Who I'm protecting?"

"No. Not really. The fewer people who know the better for all involved."

Cooper didn't press, but he did ask. "Reddington is right. Are we sure this person wasn't just saving you from a quick death for their own nefarious purposes?"

"We're sure. I'm sure. I'm completely sure."

 _OOO_

Tom had taken Agnes to put her down for the night. Picking up her wine glass, Liz moved to the window. Looking out into the darkness, Liz wondered if Mr. Kaplan was really out there. Peering into the shadows, she tried to spot her.

Tom came up behind her and put his arms around her. Resting his chin on her shoulder, he made a request. "Hey babe, do me a favor? Marley - or whatever her name really was - is dead, but since we have no idea who she really was or why she wanted you dead or if she was working alone or with someone … could you maybe _not_ stand in front on the window like the perfect silhouette of a target?"

"Yeah ..." Liz nodded and took a step back.

 _Finis_


End file.
